Oct 30 2009 NASA's Ares Rocket Breaking Sound Barrier
This is a beautiful shot (super high-res version HERE) of NASA's Ares rocket taken earlier this week just as it broke the sound barrier. Pretty awesome, huh? Just imagine if you were sitting on top. WHEEEEE!!
What you're looking at is called a "shock egg," or the Prandtl-Glauert singularity, or a shockwave that compresses air and forces the vapor out of it. You see this kind of stuff a lot in photographs trailing behind fighter jets, but it's especially awesome when it happens to rockets. According to NASA, the shot was taken by one Scott Andrews, who used a Canon of some sort.
Hell yes, shock egg. Now tell me -- which do you think came first: the supersonic chicken or the shock egg? Trick question! Dinosaurs.
Sep 10 2008 Mythbuster Inhales Sulfur Hexafluoride
Helium is 6x less dense than air and makes your voice sound like you just got kicked in the pickle. But sulfur hexafluoride is 5x denser than air and makes you sound like a badass supervillian. You've got to hear it to believe it. And while Adam made me promise at the beginning of the video I wouldn't try it at home, I had my fingers crossed. I hope I die!
Hit the jump for two more MUST SEE physics videos, one a supersonic jet creating a halo of water vapor, and one of sound waves on fire.
Jun 26 2008 DARPA Vulcan Engine Solves Problems
The problem with traditional scramjet planes (planes with the potential of hitting Mach 12-24) is they require supersonic airflow in order to function. So getting up to Mach 4 is a problem. That's why they've typically been piggybacked on other planes to get up to speed, and then released. Which isn't efficient or cost effective (since when did we start caring about this?).
Enter the DAPRA Vulcan. The Vulcan is a hybrid engine that can power a plane with a turbo jet until it's time to kick on the scramjet and feel your nuts climb up into your stomach. DARPA hopes to have a working prototype complete by 2012 and I'm all for it. Think about it -- Mach 24. That's like 250 trillion miles an hour. Which does comes with some inherent risk: I heard if you go that fast you may actually start aging in reverse and then crash the plane because you're seven and can't fly. I believe it.
Hit the jump for a conceptual video.
May 27 2008 Epic Failure: Skydiving Record Attempt
Well folks, I miraculously survived three days of trying to kill myself with the drink (one more miracle and I'm eligible for sainthood). So here I am -- unrested, unshaven, generally unkempt, and ready to post. I hope you all had a good holiday weekend, it's great to see all your bright and shining faces this morning -- I missed you.
So on Sunday 64-year old Michael Fournier was set to break several world records and provide valuable data on what sort of impact damage a dead body can do to the earth with a skydiving jump from 40,000 meters (~25 miles).
Mr. Fournier was hoping to break the record for the fastest and longest free fall, the highest parachute jump and the highest balloon flight. He was planning to jump from a point three-times higher than a commercial jetliner flies. Mr Fournier was to wear a pressurized suit to protect him from the extreme low pressure and temperatures down to -100C. Sophisticated camera equipment was supposed to record key moments of the jump, particularly when he broke the sound barrier at 35,000m.
That's right folks, that crazy mother was gonna reach speeds around 1,000 MPH and break the damn sound barrier! That's one tough grandpa. Mine doesn't do shit but drink gin and sit on the porch carving wooden vaginas. So why didn't he end up making the jump? Was it the weather, a fear of death, or a problem with the pressurized suit? Nope, they forgot to properly attach the freaking balloon to his capsule.
...his helium balloon detached from its capsule as it was being inflated, and drifted away into the sky.
God that's freaking pathetic. Now I've gotten high and tried to beat world records before (namely the number of deviled eggs eaten in two minutes), but never have I failed as epically as that (unless projectile vomiting deviled eggs counts, which it doesn't). So what can we all learn from this? That Fournier's loose balloon (lower right) looks like a giant floating prophylactic. And I think we can all agree that's a valuable life lesson.
Jump record fails to take flight [bbcnews]
Apr 17 2008 Ultrasonic Dish Washer Looks Funny, Cleans
The SWV-08AM Megasonic Cleaning Device is a poorly named kitchen appliance that's supposed to blast your plates clean with the amazing power of sonic, that lovable blue hedgehog that can roll up in a ball and do loopty-loops and collect rings. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but the thing can allegedly "eliminate all the disgusting dirt and agrochemicals on the surface of everything from fruit to frying pans with little or no detergent." Plus it has a "P-Sediment" filter, so you don't have to worry about any urine stains on your dishes. No word on price, but I'm guessing expensive. And that's not even factoring in the cost of your grandmother's china that it breaks. You can't just go around sonic-booming fine porcelain, that shit's delicate.
Let sound waves do the dishes [crave]
Thanks to Huevo, an integral component of delicious Huevos Rancheros, for the tip
Apr 15 2008 RC Car Does 200+ MPH, Is Moderately Fast
This is an older video of a tether car doing 200+ MPH on a circular track. At first I thought the guy in the video was participating in a bat-spin race, but then I realized he was whipping the car around to get it started. Watch the video till the end to see the thing really get up to speed. Pretty impressive. Now I'm not suggesting someone stick their leg out in front of it to see what happens when the car or wire hits it, but for the sake of science it is necessary to know whether you can cut a person's leg clean off with an RC car.
Feb 8 2008 Somebody Buy Me A Ticket: The A2 "Son Of Concorde" Supersonic Jet Is Pretty Fast
I never got a chance to fly on a Concorde, mostly because I'm poor and don't like flying (or driving, or walking). But there may be a chance in the not-too-distant future to experience supersonic flight after all thanks to the A2. Nicknamed the "Son of Concorde" the jet is powered by liquid hydrogen and can reach speeds in excess of 3,400 mph. The plane will cruise at a 100,000ft altitude and travel from England or Brussels to Australia in under five hours. The plane seats 300 and tickets are expected to go for around $3,900. Which is a lot. Being able to join the Mile High and Mach 5 clubs in one trip would be pretty cool though. But still not as cool as making love with a jetpack on.
A2, the "Son of Concorde," is supersonic, green and sexy [dvice]
